


Consequences

by Archaeologyfiend



Series: Avatar One Shots [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Episode: s03e04 Sokka's Master, and Ozai, mentions of Zuko - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 14:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12961698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archaeologyfiend/pseuds/Archaeologyfiend
Summary: Sokka and Master Piandao sit and talk over cups of tea. Sokka gets a revelation too many that makes him rethink his perspective on the Royal Family.





	Consequences

Sokka groaned in exhaustion, flat on his back _once again_ with nothing but bruises to show for his past work. He took a deep breath as Hull above him stepped back for Master Piandao to step in.

"Good work Sokka," the master swordsman stated. "But you still have a way to go." Piandao tilted his head to one side then and nodded, as if affirming something. "Come, it is time for something different." He gestured for Sokka to follow him and Sokka internally sighed. The others had all left to explore the town below them and he had been left to train and train and train under his master. It had only been three days and Sokka already felt as if his limbs were ready to fall off. But he was going to master this- it was just like mastering the boomerang. It would take time and energy yes, but by the end he would come out better and stronger, more able to help towards the team rather than just stand to the side and watch a half-baked plan get put into action. It helped that he had a day's training with Suki, but he realised now that that was not enough, no matter how much he had learnt in those few hours.

Piandao led him back into the house, an oddity for the time of day. "Um, Master?" Sokka asked, shucking the training robe on over previously bare shoulders. The Fire Nation was so hot that he couldn't understand how any of the soldiers were able to work in that armour. He had felt like he was sizzling in it, and that had been on the fringes of the Fire Nation, far from anywhere near the capital. "Are we not continuing training today?"

"We are," Piandao affirmed. "But swordsmanship is nothing if you do not know when to use it. One must be wary when unsheathing his blade- untampered it can be used to hurt you just as much as others." Sokka swallowed at that, wondering what he meant. "Our next lesson for the day is consequences. Your physical training will continue in the morning. Today, you will learn when to pull the blade." That sounded ominous.

They arrived at a room that would have been plain, had it not been for several portraits set up on the walls. Some were large, full-bodied pieces of art depicting soldiers, others mere faces. Sokka blinked as he recognised the scarred wanted poster on the wall of Jeong Jeong pinned next to one of a younger looking Iroh.

"General Iroh trained with blades?" Sokka asked, wondering if they were all past students. He was careful not to mention Jeong Jeong- he wasn't stupid and that man had been terrifying no matter what Aang said.

"No, Prince Iroh has no formal training in weapons that I know of," Piandao answered. "However, his son was sent to tutor under me along with his nephew, many years ago." Piandao gestured to a larger portrait situated next to the smaller faces, this one depicting a young man in full Fire Nation armour, helmet tucked under his arm, a broadsword hung under his belt. Stood next to him was a boy no older than about ten, face wary, a pair of dual swords gripped in his tiny hands. Sokka blinked, frowning at the boy- there was something familiar... The sight of the stupid ponytail hairstyle forced something to click in Sokka's brain and before he could think about what he was about to do, stuck his hand over the left side of the boy's face-

"I have a later portrait of him," an amused voice let out behind him. Sokka jumped, leaping back from the painting of the younger Zuko, slightly freaked out. What was the point in this? How would this help him know when to unsheathe a blade? Was Piandao trying to tell him not to attack the Fire Nation? Glancing around, he noted a smaller portrait residing in the usual place where portraits of the royal family ought to be. Curiously absent were both the dominating face of Ozai and the terrifying one of Azula. In their place was another drawing of Iroh and a sad looking woman who had a distinct resemblance to Azula- perhaps if she were twenty years older. It didn't take a genius to work out who she was.

"So that's the Fire Lady?" Sokka asked, hoping it wouldn't out him as not Fire Nation. They had been coasting along as colonials but sometimes one of them would mess up, revealing that there were certain things, certain knowledge that even colonials should have. He hoped that this was not one of them, but no one had mentioned Ozai's wife, not even Toph who had looked confused when Sokka asked about her one night. Piandao was giving him that calculated look again before shaking his head and gesturing to the table in the centre of the room, a steaming pot of tea already laid out for them.

"Princess Ursa has been missing these past five years. Many whisper that she is dead." Sokka blinked, backing away from the portrait and sitting himself at the table.

"Missing?" Was that why no one would speak of her? Why no one had portraits of her when people had them of the rest of the royal family? "Then why..." Sokka gestured at the painting, now more bewildered than ever. He had known that there was something off about Piandao- his instincts had been screaming it at him since they arrived- but he had counted it as a good thing, as a way to think that at least one person inside the Fire Nation disagreed with the Fire Nation. But now... now Sokka got the feeling that Piandao knew more than he was letting on and was quite happily leaving them in the dark.

Piandao took the time for Sokka to pick up his teacup to watch him. Sokka fidgeted as the master sipped at his own tea- Jasmine today- eyes closed in contemplation. When he opened them again, his eyes were sad.

"A reminder of better times," was all he said in answer. And then he fixed his gaze on Sokka, steel in his eyes once more. "Now then. Do you know why I have all these here?" He gestured around to the other portraits. Sokka sipped at the tea, eyes following the movement of Piandao's arm, back to the wall. They couldn't all be his students- there was one of a young man firebending after all. But that left the bewildering possibility that they were either people Piandao admired or reminders of something else.

"They remind you of something?" he asked, thinking furiously on what Piandao had told him this lesson would be. Piandao raised an eyebrow, the corner of his lips twitching. "Er... they remind you when to draw your blade?" Sokka tried again, hoping that was a better answer.

"Partially. They remind me why it is that I fight and when I should fight," he said. "That there," here he gestured to a small, most likely personal, painting of a young man bending flames, "is a recruit of the 41st division. His name was Pao if I remember correctly and had just joined the army. He was sixteen, from a rural farming family whose land had been repossessed by a new machine factory and he had hoped that the better pay of the army would help cater for his family. His sister joined the Home Guard two years later, but by that time Pao was gone."

"A deserter?" Sokka asked. He had met plenty of those in Jeong Jeong's little group. The corner of Piandao's mouth twitched again.

"One of many that abandoned the army three years ago." Piandao was looking at the painting, a strange light in his eyes. "He was so young to have learnt the lesson I must teach you now. Now, what do you know of Prince Lu Ten?" Sokka blinked at the whiplash that the conversation had just given him. _He abandoned the army with others three years ago? What happened three years ago?_

"Ummm..." Sokka paused, thrown for a moment. _Who on heck...?_ Then his eyes fell on _that_ portrait again and Sokka took a wild guess, hoping he was right. "He was killed in the siege of Ba Sing Se?" Piandao nodded, a clear gesture for him to continue. Sokka tried to think on what Toph had told them of that. "He's... Prince Iroh's son," Sokka said slowly, remembering Piandao's words earlier, "and should have been first in line for the throne behind his father. So, a master firebender." Sokka cringed under Piandao's stare, wondering if he ought to know more as a colonial. Piandao gave another nod and sipped his tea.

"That he was. He would have been a good Fire Lord too, behind his father had he been given the opportunity. He took a rock spike through the back while protecting his men in the siege of Ba Sing Se. His death broke not just his father but the hearts of his aunt and nephew. I keep his portrait to remind myself of the young man who used to wander in here demanding tea, Pai Sho and a good match with the sword. Few but his cousin could beat him with the blade."

"Prince Zuko is er... that good with blades?" Sokka asked nervously, his voice almost a squeak. He had never actually faced Zuko properly before, not counting that humiliating match the first time they had ever met, way back in the South Pole. Even fighting as a Kyoshi Warrior didn't really count when even Suki had struggled. That Zuko was good at hand to hand combat didn't surprise. That he was good with a sword... that was strange to think about. Spirits, Sokka had never even _seen_ him with any blades! Piandao was now smiling, nodding his head.

"Yes, Prince Zuko is something of a prodigy in his own right with the dual Dao. I did offer to teach Princess Azula in the art of the katana but she wasn't interested." There was a slight note of offence in Piandao's tone, one that had been there when discussing firebenders previously. Sokka knew, from their travels, that firebenders didn't generally train with anything other than their bending as any mortal weapon was seen as below them. There were exceptions, obviously, but not many. Apparently, Zuko was one of those exceptions, which was strange to think about. The angry jerk had never given any indication that he had any type of training in a blade... _But he did fight you that first time without bending fire at you_ Sokka remembered. He hadn't really given much thought to that, beyond the initial humiliation of being knocked on his arse so many times in a row, the first of many.

"So... what does that have to do with our lesson today?" Sokka asked. "I mean, the Siege was five years ago now..." He trailed off, nothing Piandao's look.

"Yes, and how much do you know of what happened at the end of the Siege?" Sokka swallowed heavily, the taste of tea cloying in the back of his throat. Truthfully, Sokka actually knew very little aside from what he had learnt from Toph. Five years ago, Dad had left to help the Earth Kingdom and he had been asking to go along with them. Katara had been upset about that too, the wounds of Mom's death still so fresh... but in the end, he hadn't gone and had watched with her at the edge of the ice as blue sails got smaller on the horizon.

"I am afraid that I don't know much," Sokka said, bowing his head respectfully. "At the time there was a lot going on with our family." It wasn't quite the truth but Piandao had an uncanny ability to know when he was lying. And while it might be strange for a colonial not to know, there was no way that Sokka could fake this. Piandao hummed in agreement and sipped his tea.

"Five years ago, was when Prince Iroh broke the Siege of Ba Sing Se after the death of his son, setting off a string of events that are cloudy even to this day. Within a week, his father Fire Lord Azulon was dead and Iroh was passed over in his will, seeing Prince Ozai crowned as Fire Lord." Sokka blinked at that surprised. He had never really connected the dots that Iroh, who was clearly older than the pictures he had seen of Ozai, should have inherited the throne after his father. In fact, he hadn't even known the name of their father in the first place. They had always been facing a faceless figure, the Fire Lord who needed to be stopped. Putting a name to events that occurred all those years ago meant making him more of a real person. A horrible person who needed to die, but a person nonetheless. "In doing so, Prince Zuko, once fourth in line for the throne became Crown Prince and Princess Ursa was never seen again."

"Wait, she went missing the same night her father-in-law died?" Sokka asked. There was something fishy about that. Piandao nodded.

"As I said before, the events surrounding the end of the Siege are murky even now. It would seem that only those within the palace at the time would know the truth, but Ozai has certainly never spoken of his wife, it was well known that Princess Azula did not enjoy time with her mother and Prince Zuko... Prince Zuko has never spoken of that night to my knowledge." Piandao looked sad again and Sokka got the feeling that Piandao may have an idea of what had happened. Balancing what he knew, it was not looking like a good picture. And if Azula didn't like her mother and, from what he had heard in the markets, Ozai did not get along well with Zuko... _and here I was thinking that I would never feel sorry for the stupid angry jerk_. It had seemed reasonable for years. Now, not so much.

"All of that happened because one man died?" Sokka asked, swallowing back a number of questions he had. It had been obvious that people knew a lot about the royal family in the Fire Nation, but Piandao seemed to know more which made sense if he had trained two of them. Strange as that seemed. Piandao merely nodded.

"One man's death was a catalyst to what has happened ever since," Piandao murmured, sipping at his tea calmly. "And what lesson can be taken from that?"

"Always know your opponent," Sokka answered easily. He had been taught that early on, but only now did it seem to have any weight. If one man's death could lead to someone like Ozai getting into power, then to know who you were fighting was critical. Whether or not that person should die or be captured. And by the sounds of it, whoever had killed Lu Ten ought to have thought before spearing him through the back. Sokka internally winced at that- from what he had come to learn, that was an even greater offence that killing your opponent from the front. It symbolised that you weren't brave or honourable enough to look your opponent in the eye.

"Yes. As you can see, actions will always have consequences." A pause for Piandao to pour himself and Sokka another cup, before Piandao began again. "Now tell me what you know of the Prince's banishment." Sokka stiffened, pinned under Piandao's gaze. _What could he mean by that? I don't know anything about the jerkbender's banishment except... wait a minute_. Sokka's thoughts screeched to a halt and backed up a moment to think through what he had just found out. Zuko had been fourth in line for the throne, then first. Even in the Water Tribes, you didn't teach the youngest child how to become chief, so someone had to have been training Zuko in something else, _for_ something else. Then he was first in line for the throne and knowing how pig-bull-headed the prince could be, would have just run straight into the new role with the determination of a tiger-dillo after lunch. So, his training would have changed... _There's a trap here_.

"He was banished and sent to look for the Avatar. I'm afraid I don't know what it was he did to incur the wrath of the Fire Lord," Sokka said carefully, feeling as if he were trying to make his way through a minefield. Except they usually had Toph who could tell you where they were and where not to tread. This time, there was no one to tell him when he was about the step on something explosive. _Zuko knows the dual Dao. Piandao didn't even give me the option for that, he said they were the weapons of trained assassins. Part of a set that someone like Mai would be trained with... I don't think I want to know what Zuko was trained for._

"Not many do. Even here, in Shu Jing, do we have a dubious idea of the terms set for Prince Zuko's banishment. Little is known as to what occurred that day three years ago, but I do have an idea as to the fallout," Piandao stated. Sokka silently choked on his tea, mind galloping ahead of himself. Three years ago... Zuko had been banished three years ago. A bunch of people left the Army three years ago. Sokka had never asked Jeong Jeong when it was that he deserted but he would bet his boomerang that it was around this time. And if whatever had happened had caused _Jeong Jeong_ to leave... _What in the name of Tui and La did you do?_ Sokka thought as if the prince could hear him.

"A lot of people left?" Sokka squeaked, not quite able to come up with much more of a cohesive answer. A lot of things were suddenly starting to make a dark amount of sense, how the jerkbender was able to track them so well, how he had gotten into somewhere like Ba Sing Se without having to dress up under thick make-up, how he had gotten into the _North Pole..._ _REALLY don't want know what Zuko was originally trained for_. Piandao lips twitched, as if he were suppressing a smile.

"More than that. The Dragon of the West himself left with the Prince, generals were in uproar, there were near riots in the streets and the entire forty-first division of fresh new troops disappeared within the week of the news breaking. The entire caldera was put under strict lockdown, with no one being able to go in or out for nearly an entire month. From some close friends of mine, I even heard that Fire Lord Ozai was forced to forgo plans of officially naming Princess Azula as heir to the throne due to how unpopular the idea was with his generals of the time. Over the next few months, when this original outrage calmed, certain members of the councils were pruned out and now only those most loyal to Ozai sit on them." Piandao fell silent, his gaze watching Sokka closely. Sokka himself swallowed heavily, trying to think that through. Something monumental must have happened to have caused all of that... something that would have happened outside of just a family feud... _wait a second. Why would Ozai be naming Azula as heir so soon after his son's banishment if whatever happened put everyone in such an outrage? And what could have happened to have done that? It's almost as if..._

"Did... Did the generals not agree with the form of punishment?" Sokka ventured. Piandao nodded, waiting for Sokka to continue. But Sokka's thoughts were galloping ahead of himself, his eyes flickering between the two different portraits painted at least five years apart. A punishment that had caused uproar and gotten the prince obsessed, not only with returning home, but also to return his honour to himself. Like it was something someone had stripped from him... and there was only one person that could do that. One person that Zuko would have looked up to enough at the time to have even considered doing half the things that he had. "The Fire Lord dealt out a punishment that they considered too severe for the crime," Sokka said slowly, a deep pit forming in his stomach. _Tui and La, please tell me I'm wrong. Spirits, I wish I was wrong..._ Piandao nodded once more, sipping carefully from the cup.

"The day that the Prince was officially banished may have been the day after the act was carried out, but in essence, yes. The only people to officially leave the capital after that day were the Prince, General Iroh and their crew, although as one could expect, the Prince was in no state to be able to captain the ship for some weeks." There was a note in Piandao's voice that was sharp, brimming with an anger that Sokka might have been able to feel if he didn't feel like the rug had been pulled from under his feet. _I so wanted to be wrong..._ Suddenly, he felt sick to his stomach at the number of times he had made fun of that scar. He had heard the rumours in the colonies, hell even in the outlying villages, that it was a training accident and it had seemed even funnier. Now, he wanted to take that laughter back because the truth was so much worse and Piandao hadn't even _said_ anything directly. _But he knows. He knows and there's nothing he can do about it because Zuko's devoted to his father... or at least scared of him enough to want to make him back off a bit_. And Sokka had no idea what to do with that. 

"I think I understand your lesson now," Sokka murmured, bowing his head. There was nothing else he could say- if the master knew as much as Sokka suspected he did then he certainly knew who they were, school uniform or not. And he hadn't done anything about it, for whatever reason he had. But now Sokka got the feeling he knew why both Ozai and Azula were absent from his wall, rather than the other two. Especially when half the Fire Nation whispered that Prince Zuko was still an outcast, that he didn't deserve to be home. That he wasn't a _worthy_ heir. _Oh, I take back everything I ever said about you being awful. How did you even survive in a place like that?_ At least his own father didn't care that he wasn't a bender, that he didn't favour Katara over him or him over her. And the one thing he knew his father would never do, would be to try and kill him. Piandao said nothing but allowed him to finish his tea in silence, watched over by the paintings around them.

"I believe that it is time you returned to your family for today," Piandao said when they were finished. "The fresh air will do you some good." Sokka nodded mutely, still caught up in the thoughts of all he had learnt. Before he left, he turned to ask one last thing.

"You know what it is that he did to get banished. What was it?" Piandao eyed him, face blank but Sokka didn't care. This man had his secrets, he knew that, but he was also holding something back. And Sokka wanted to know why. A long moment of silence stretched for what felt like an eternity before Piandao broke eye contact and bowed him head.

"There was a war meeting, in which a general loyal to the Fire Lord proposed a plan in which the 41st division would be sacrificed to wipe out an Earth Kingdom battalion. The prince spoke out against this plan, and then refused to fight the Fire Lord in the resultant Agni Kai." It felt like Sokka had been socked in the gut, but he nodded before leaving. If that was all that it took, for Ozai to try to get rid of one of his own children...

_I'm sorry Aang. I don't think that there's any way to get out of this without killing him. He's never going to submit unless he thinks he can get anything out of it._

**Author's Note:**

> So it really bugs me that there didn't really seem to be any sort of consequences for Ozai when he basically tried to straight up murder his son in front of pretty much everyone. And sure, he was the Fire Lord and Zuko was disrespectful, but there was also a couple of other people there that didn't agree with what had been proposed and I can't imagine them being sat and happy watching something like that along with Zhao and Azula. Doubly so, considering that Iroh jumped ship with him, and he had only been out of the running for the throne for two years at this point. So, it seemed really odd that there were consequences for that.
> 
> Then I wondered whether or not there had been, and if so what Ozai would have done about it. Because by the time we see him, no one is willing to speak out against him about his totally-not-crazy plan to burn the entire Earth Kingdom down and all its people. Literally, not one person is sat at the back muttering about how then there will be nothing to rule over and no way to feed their people, especially if the Fire Nation is already polluting their own rivers as seen in The Painted Lady, which would make that an incredibly stupid move on Ozai's part. So, if they don't exist anymore and Ozai is surrounded by yes men, then he's probably gotten rid of them all and all within the three years since Zuko left.
> 
> In essence, really, I just wanted to bring this point up as well as bringing in Sokka's opinion about it because no one really confronts them about their skewed opinions on the Fire Nation. Especially since Sokka actually has a brain outside of comic relief and would probably know before the Day of Black Sun that Aang isn't going to kill the Fire Lord (love the inconsistency of Aang being perfectly willing to do that during the Esclipse but not by the time Sozin's Comet comes around, or maybe he just didn't think about that until Zuko point blank throws it in his face...? Hm.) and giving him time to note that no, this guy is not going to back down easily. And that if he does, he's going to have an ulterior motive because I can see him pulling an Azula and striking when all their defences are lowered (what better way to take over than to submit, get everyone together and then zap them while they're all conveniently in one place?). And so, this fic was born.
> 
> Also no one ever questions why Ozai appears to have no wife, which just strikes me as weird because Zuko and Azula did not just form out of thin air. That, and the implications that would have come from Zuko jumping up the line of succession, especially since he had been training with Piandao since he was four. So, I decided to muse on that a bit as well.
> 
> Anyway, rambles over. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
